Pittsburgh CB Ike Taylor vs. Chicago WR Devin Hester
This is a battle between two teams favored to win their divisions -- one coming off a big Week 1 win, (Pittsburgh), the other (Chicago) coming off a tough Sunday night loss. It's surpising to note these teams have not played as often as one might think. They met six times in the 1930s, but just 24 times overall in 75 years.

Hester is the Bears' leading receiver. Pittsburgh is always very tough to run on -- -negating Matt Forte's value -- so Chicago needs Hester to step up in a game like this. Hester has dynamic speed and play-making ability. He has good hands, and he is improving as a receiver. In 2008, he caught 55 passes while playing less than full-time. He has ability to make people miss. Watch for him on trick plays.

Taylor is the starting left corner. He is a very good athletic cover man who will blitz off the corner. He has the ability to run with and trail receivers. He is in loose coverage when the Steelers are blitzing, but he also has good ability to jam and re-route receivers. Not a real ball-hawk, though. And he's a good special teams player if needed.

And here are some from Steelers.com

Steelers - Bears Matchups
Friday, September 18, 2009

By BOB LABRIOLA
Steelers.com

The following are some of the interesting matchups to watch when the Steelers travel to Soldier Field for a 4:15 p.m. game on Sunday against the Chicago Bears:

STEELERS ROLB JAMES HARRISON VS. BEARS LT ORLANDO PACE: His credentials are impressive. Pace made history by becoming the first player to win consecutive Lombardi awards as the outstanding collegiate lineman, and then in 1997 by being the first offensive lineman chosen first overall in the NFL Draft since 1968. He has started 154 of the 158 games played over the course of 12 NFL seasons, and started all 16 games in eight different seasons and made the Pro Bowl seven times. But all the banging in all of those games played takes a physical toll, and Pace, 34, did not look like the same player against the Packers last Sunday night. Harrison is an extra difficult matchup for tall tackles who havenít experienced his power and explosion, and Pace is 6-foot-7 and he never has faced Harrison. When the Steelers played the Rams in 2007, Pace was on the injured reserve list. As always, the Steelers want to pressure the quarterback, and Harrison vs. Pace could provide that for them.

STEELERS SS TYRONE CARTER VS. BEARS TE GREG OLSEN: This will be Carterís first start this season, for an injured Troy Polamalu, and while losing a dynamic individual player like Polamalu has to have an impact, the Steelers are 6-2 in the previous games he has missed with an injury. Carter is a veteran who understands the defense, and this type of situation is exactly why the coaches want him on the roster. This is Olsenís third pro season but his first as a full-time starter, and he has improved from 39 catches for 391 yards and two touchdowns to 54 catches for 574 yards and five touchdowns. Jay Cutler is coming off a game in which he threw four interceptions, and often in such cases quarterbacks spend a big part of the next game looking for the sure-handed tight end. If the Steelers get after Cutler and he needs to get rid of the ball quickly, Olsen will be one of his first reads.

STEELERS TE HEATH MILLER VS. BEARS MLB HUNTER HILLENMEYER: Staying with the tight end theme, the Bears will be trying to defend Miller without All-Pro Brian Urlacher, who is out for the season following a wrist injury. Urlacher is a fast, physical presence in the middle of the field, and the Bears utilize him in a variety of roles, both to attack the backfield or drop, sometimes deep, into coverage. Hillenmeyer is a veteran who has 56 starts with the Bears since 2003, but in 86 career NFL games he has managed 4.5 sacks and one interception. When these teams met in 2005, the Steelers won with Jerome Bettis rushing for over 100 yards in the second half and running over Urlacher to score a touchdown, but this is a different style of offense. Miller caught eight passes against the Titans, and if heís open that much on Sunday he may catch even more.

STEELERS KR STEFAN LOGAN VS. BEARS KR DEVION HESTER: During the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Hester was a kick returner the likes of which the NFL had never seen. As a rookie in 2006, he returned two punts for touchdowns and two kickoffs for touchdowns; in 2007, he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and four punts for touchdowns. He also returned the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLI for a 92-yard touchdown. The all-time record for returns for touchdowns is 13, and itís held by Brian Mitchell, who played in 223 games over 14 seasons to do it. Hester had 11 touchdowns in three full seasons and only 47 career games. He now is into the process of becoming a starting NFL wide receiver, but Hester settling under a kickoff or a punt is a potential disaster for the opponent. Logan is in the NFL today because of his own return ability, and he averaged 29 yards on four kickoff returns and 11 yards on one punt return against the Titans. Fielding the ball is always Job No. 1, and Chicago can be a tricky environment Ė they donít call it the Windy City for nothing.

STEELERS C JUSTIN HARTWIG VS. BEARS NT ANTHONY ADAMS: Without Urlacher in the middle, the Steelers might be able to commit more blockers to moving the 6-foot, 310-pound Adams out of the middle. On combination blocks with Hartwig and one of the guards, for example, there wonít be as much of a concern about the middle linebacker, because Hillenmeyer is not as quick and physical around the line of scrimmage as Urlacher.

This has been a long week to wait already. I don't know if I'm going to make it to 4:15, Sunday. :hyper:

another one is Essex vs Tommie Harris. Harris is a total beast, he has the size and speed to dominate

Harris is twice the player that dude from Tennessee is

RoethlisBURGHer

09-18-2009, 01:42 PM

I think we can win this game.

However, it's going to be via passing the ball. They have a very good defensive line. While our run game might be better than it was against Tennessee....unless our line has done a reversal and has become a stout run blocking line in the last week, we still won't get a ton in the run game.

Ben Roethlisberger can pick the Bears defensive secondary apart. Let him do so. Run it just enough to keep the defense honest.

SteelMember

09-18-2009, 01:57 PM

Or how about Willie Colon against Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye.

Just to put some focus on the oline a little more. :mg:

Steelboy84

09-18-2009, 03:52 PM

Or how about our entire offensive line against their front 7?

Galax Steeler

09-18-2009, 04:01 PM

I can't wait to watch the Harrison and Pace matchup. I think Harrison can win that battle also. The only way Pace will slow him down is to hold him like everyone else does in the nfl.

OneForTheToe

09-18-2009, 04:08 PM

But what if the Bears decide to play Didka at DT, middle linebacker and saftey?:scratchchin: So, it would be the Steelers' offense vs three Didkas.

SteelC7

09-18-2009, 04:11 PM

haha strait from steelers.com, i just read it on there a second ago, its funny, im glad that steelers fever posts ALL the info from all the websites, congrats, STEELERS FEVER, ur website rocks

FredScott

09-18-2009, 04:16 PM

[QUOTE=RoethlisBURGHer;661687]I think we can win this game.

However, it's going to be via passing the ball. They have a very good defensive line. While our run game might be better than it was against Tennessee....unless our line has done a reversal and has become a stout run blocking line in the last week, we still won't get a ton in the run game.

Ben Roethlisberger can pick the Bears defensive secondary apart. Let him do so. Run it just enough to keep the defense honest.[/QUOTE

I actually think we are gonna have a big day running the ball against the Bears, keep in mind we were going up against the best defense in the NFL last week (next to us) and thats why we had such a hard time running the ball. I think this week we get back to basics with our power running game and Mendenhall should see the ball a lot more this week as its kinda a homecoming game for him.

Kal

09-19-2009, 07:20 AM

Hester gets moved between left and right wide receiver so it will be as interesting to see how he does against William Gay who didn't play very well against Tennessee.

Judging by how Harrison schooled a much better (currently) left tackle in Michael Roos, and Pace had trouble with Aaron Kampmann and Cullen Jenkins who destroyed him at times, I think this is a match up that the Steelers win but maybe doesn't show up on the stat sheet as much because Cutler can avoid sacks pretty well.

Fire Haley

09-19-2009, 07:22 AM

STEELERS SS TYRONE CARTER VS. BEARS TE GREG OLSEN

Aye - that's the one that could cause us problems.

Steel Head

09-19-2009, 11:17 AM

I can't wait to watch the Harrison and Pace matchup. I think Harrison can win that battle also. The only way Pace will slow him down is to hold him like everyone else does in the nfl.

Has Harrison ever lost a battle to a LT? :noidea:

Pace is a shell of his former self. Not a key matchup imo

SteelerFanInStl

09-19-2009, 01:21 PM

Or how about Willie Colon against Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye.

Just to put some focus on the oline a little more. :mg:

That's the matchup that I'm worried about. Ogunleye schooled that RT from GB the whole game last week.

markymarc

09-19-2009, 04:07 PM

How about Stefan Logan vs Devin Hester in the return game. Boy it sure would be nice to see Logan win that area!

Fire Haley

09-20-2009, 09:50 AM

How about Stefan Logan vs Devin Hester in the return game. Boy it sure would be nice to see Logan win that area!

Except they don't actually match up against each other.

Wouldn't it be Logan vs. the Chicago special teams?

markymarc

09-20-2009, 11:19 AM

Except they don't actually match up against each other.

Wouldn't it be Logan vs. the Chicago special teams?

Come on killer you know what I am talking about. I get that they don't actually match up against one another, but to me the player with more return yards today definitely helps their team win today. But anyway, here's to Logan winning this area today :wink02:

Fire Haley

09-20-2009, 11:43 AM

Yeah - I would love to see Logan run back a kick.
It's just a matter of time - I can feel it.

I have never been this giddy to watch our kick returns - never - not even with EL.